The BC Supreme Court recently admonished ICBC for failing to disclose video surveillance in direct breach of a Court Order.

Following a jury trial, a BC Supreme Court judge ordered ICBC to pay the legal fees of a woman seriously injured in a motor vehicle collision. Months before the trial, the Court had ordered ICBC to disclose any video surveillance in its possession to the injured woman’s lawyer. ICBC didn’t and the case proceeded to trial.

However, after three weeks of trial, ICBC all of a sudden sprung video surveillance it had of the injured woman taken months before the Court Order was made. This late disclosure was not only a direct breach of the Court Order, but disrupted the trial.

The injured woman’s lawyer argued that ICBC’s conduct was reprehensible and should be sanctioned by the Court in the form of an award of “special costs”. The judge agreed, concluding that:

[78] In sum, ICBC’s casual disregard for the disclosure rules, especially when reinforced by the October 20, 2015 Court Order, warrants rebuke in the form of an award of special costs.

The judge determined that those special costs should equal the injured woman’s legal fees.

This case should serve as a reminder of the extents to which ICBC will go to defeat an injured person’s claim.